1998 Tornado Outbreak: 10 Years Later

On this day a decade ago, storm spotters tracked ten tornadoes as they wreaked havoc across Tennessee. The series of storms left seven people dead in the state, but it was the damage to downtown Nashville that made national headlines. It had been more than 20 years since a tornado had hit such a populated area. In Nashville alone, the damage totaled an estimated 100-million dollars, with neighborhoods east of town facing the worst of it. WPLN’s Blake Farmer reports.

Nashville Senator Joe Haynes lost a fight in the Senate Commerce Committee today when his pro-labor bill went down to bipartisan defeat – only one Democrat, and one Republican, voted for it.

Congressman Jim Cooper wants a bipartisan commission to look at earmark funding and no-bid contracts. The Nashville Democrat says both practices raise questions of cronyism and unchecked federal spending.

Twenty-eight trial judges out of 100 in the state will be certified as mediators by the end of this week. They’re going through 40-hours of training at Lipscomb University’s Institute for Conflict Management.

Tennessee’s First Lady is back home after receiving the National Crime Victim Service Award from the US Department of Justice.

From the floor of the U.S. Senate (today/yesterday), Tennessee’s Lamar Alexander proposed an optional 17-percent flat tax that could be filed with a single page.

Nashville Mayor Karl Dean signed into law today an ordinance meant to level the playing field for businesses interested in contracting with the city.

Federal lawmakers are still trying to create a bill to address the housing slump, and Nashville Congressman Jim Cooper says there’s no easy solution.

All 136 Metro Schools will hand over improvement plans to the schools administration tomorrow. It represents a new, bottom-up approach to improving student performance.

If Metro officials plan to build a new convention center anytime soon, they’ll first have to shift at least 11-million dollars of expenses back to the city’s general fund.